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Wednesday, 19 December 2012

'Cleared' Peter Siddle slams 'ridiculous' ball-tampering accusations

Australia fast bowler Peter Siddle has blasted ball-tampering allegations on him as ridiculous after he along with opener Ed Cowan were embroiled in controversy following persistent complaints from Sri Lankan hierarchy

Siddle's man-of-the-match performance in the Hobart Test was overshadowed by explosive allegations of ball tampering after Sri Lankan management informally raised concerns on Sunday night with International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Chris Broad.Shortly after Australia's stirring 137-run victory at Blundstone Arena, it was revealed that footage of Siddle and Cowan had been sent to ICC headquarters in Dubai.

The ICC released a statement at the end of play claiming that the umpires found no evidence of ball tampering.

"That is a ridiculous statement. There's a picture going around on Twitter, but on Twitter you can say what you want and there's no consequences," News.com.au quoted Siddle, as saying.

"If you took a picture of every time I turn around and run into bowl, it will look exactly like that same picture. If you watch a video of it, you would see me turning around the ball and running in, but if you take a snap of a still picture you can make anything look unreal," he added.

Siddle further said in a sarcastic tone: "I wake up in the morning, I thought today if I ran out there and ball tampered in front of 15 cameras and a lot of people watching the game I will get away with it."

"Why would I want to jeopardise that when I know we can go out there and do everything in the spirit of the game and win?" he added.

"I've got no idea if it was about me, my girlfriend alerted me to something that was on Twitter. There's nothing to it at all," he concluded. (ANI)